Johnstone Bridge A74 - was there a pre-war dual carriageway?

[exiled]

I'm not aware of any of the A74 having a ban on pedestrians based on the photos I've seen, though it would have certainly been a little weird walking along it with a petrol can. It was probably kind of them to have given him a lift to the nearby petrol station.

No ban on pedestrians, just a little lecture about how silly he was for running out of fuel and also going the wrong way, and probably a nice tale to relate to their colleagues back at the station.

Yes, that would've been an unpleasant walk all the same.

Indeed, a lot of things may be legal but unpleasant if not unidvisable to do, and walking along an all purpose rural D2 with a 70 mph limit is going to be one of them.

[RJDG14]

The Scottish Roads Archive has uploaded a new photo of the A74 on Twitter/X, I think taken from the air around where the first sign photo was taken:

https://twitter.com/ScotRoadArchive/sta ... 34/photo/1

How many split sections were there in total? There was this one (which I wasn't previously aware of) along with the more notable one just north of the Harthope Viaduct, but were there any others? I know that the carriageways were quite wide apart around Crawfordjohn however I think this was an aesthetic decision rather than anything to do with the terrain.

[jnty]

No ban on pedestrians, just a little lecture about how silly he was for running out of fuel and also going the wrong way, and probably a nice tale to relate to their colleagues back at the station.

Yes, that would've been an unpleasant walk all the same.

Indeed, a lot of things may be legal but unpleasant if not unidvisable to do, and walking along an all purpose rural D2 with a 70 mph limit is going to be one of them.

And I would say doing so holding a petrol can is a pretty universally understood plea for assistance!

[wrinkly]

Has anybody found any evidence on the 1-mile dualled section between Hamilton and Bothwell (bypassed by the M74 circa 1968 and now known as B7071)? I've speculated that it's pre-war.

There is a tender advert in the 15 June 1938 Scotsman for the asphalt surfacing of the carriageways presently being constructed in Bothwell Road, so it does look to be pre-war. Also a previous letter about the scheme, costing £50,000 to £60,000, that it was a Council scheme eligible for a grant from the Ministry.

Thanks, excellent discoveries. Should this item be added to Ross's timeline of A74 improvements?

Also, how far do you want to go towards or into Glasgow? There's 4km of dual carriageway on London Road from Mount Vernon westward. The eastern mile of this is shown as dual on the 1963 1" and on a 1953 large-scale map on the NLS site. The rest is shown as dual on the 1968 1" but not on the 1965.

Also, I wonder when London Road was first built, as much of it seems to be a vaguely modern bypass for Hamilton Road.

[Ross Spur]

Should this item be added to Ross's timeline of A74 improvements?
Also, how far do you want to go towards or into Glasgow? There's 4km of dual carriageway on London Road from Mount Vernon westward. The eastern mile of this is shown as dual on the 1963 1" and on a 1953 large-scale map on the NLS site. The rest is shown as dual on the 1968 1" but not on the 1965.
Also, I wonder when London Road was first built, as much of it seems to be a vaguely modern bypass for Hamilton Road.

I had made a start on the Glasgow to Canderwater sections, but must have moved onto something else. I'll have another look at it.

[OLD GIT]

Thanks for reply, and apologies for time to reply. PC is in my upstairs den, and when hip pains me, I tend to spend most time in my chair using tablet .

[Ross Spur]

Also, how far do you want to go towards or into Glasgow? There's 4km of dual carriageway on London Road from Mount Vernon westward. The eastern mile of this is shown as dual on the 1963 1" and on a 1953 large-scale map on the NLS site. The rest is shown as dual on the 1968 1" but not on the 1965.

The 1965 OS Route Planning map seems to show the westwards extension section at Braidfauld https://www.sabre-roads.org.uk/maps/ind ... layer=os65 so this section looks to be about the 1965-66 time. The one inch was a full revision though, so maybe the Route Planner was jumping the gun a little.

I was wondering if some of it goes back to the 1930s? Tramlines were in the centre of the road for part of the way, but then there is this narrowing on the 1954 OS 1:1250 map https://maps.nls.uk/view/130375300 ! The 1962 map shows no central reservation https://maps.nls.uk/view/130375303 so it may have been S4. It's dual carriageway on the 1967 revised map https://maps.nls.uk/view/130375306 as you have probably seen.

The start of the Mount Vernon section is shown at https://maps.nls.uk/view/130289277 on the 1953 revised 1:2500 map. Again there are tramlines on the eastern section on the 1934 revised 25 inch map https://maps.nls.uk/view/82891929. The next step I think is aerial photography to find the pre war layout, unless anyone can find some other photos of the road.